A Friendship Dawns
by Blu Taiger
Summary: Egad, and other fic about how Calvin and Hobbes met. This one, however, tells Hobbes's story. Who he is. where he's from. And just what is his apathy toward zoos.


**Disclaimer: **Yeah, yeah, I don't own Calvin _or_ Hobbes. And I'm certainly not Bill Waterson.

There are many things which mankind is not meant to understand. Some of these things include, but are not limited to; why the moon looks orange sometimes, the existence of Bigfoot, cats, the Bermuda triangle, why dogs walk in circles before going to sleep, crop circles, cats, what really goes into a hot dog, ninety nine cent stores and the mind of the human female.

But, one of the most remarkable of these is the existence of a particular kind of animals. These animals are gifted with the ability to speak the human language and can walk upright – like humans do. They can be any species of beast, from dogs and turtles to elephants and bears. What is most remarkable about these special animals is that they are born from the mundane creatures you see every day.

And so it happened, not so long ago, that a group of men in South – East Asia captured themselves a rouge tiger. Instead of being killed, however, the tiger was placed onboard a ship and sent to the United States of America to be put in a zoo.

The very next morning after she had arrived, the zoo staff discovered that there were now three new tigers in there exhibit. Yes, the tiger was a female, and in the night she had given birth to two healthy cubs. The female cub was just as ordinary as her mother. But the male cub, although nobody knew it, was special. As he grew, he developed in ways no human thought was possible. He learned to speak from observing his caretakers (though, he never demonstrated to them) and also found out how to walk on only his hind legs.

At first, these new abilities filled him with great excitement, until one day, he began to wonder why his sister could not do the things he could. He tried teaching her how to walk like he could, but he was speaking what humans call _English_, and the thought hadn't occurred to him that she couldn't understand. As time passed, he looked at his fellow tigers and observed that none of them did any of the things that he did. None of them ever spoke, they only growled and roared. And none of them ever _stood_ on two feet, let alone _walk_ on them. It was then that the horrible truth dawned on him…

_He was different. _

It wasn't long afterward, that he began to grow un-content with his lot. All his companions just sat around until they were fed. And every day those annoying monkey–like things were always watching everything he did, always pointing and jeering at him.

Soon enough, he resolved to leave.

In the dead of night, he snuck over to the gate and ,with difficulty, opened it (He had watched the caretakers open it enough times to figure out how to do it) He was about to take his leave, when it occurred to him that he should, at least, say goodbye to his sister.

He knew well enough that she wouldn't understand what he was saying, but she was his sister, and it just seemed that he should. He gave her a heart-filled, and almost teary goodbye, explaining that he was leaving and she probably wouldn't see him again.

And then, she bit him.

And so, he left the zoo. And in another event which humans are not meant to understand, no one at the zoo remembered him ever being there in the first place.

Days passed, and our friend found himself all alone, wandering lost in some unknown forest. Then a smell reached his nose. He knew at once, that it was the smell of something to eat, and so he followed his nose to find the source of this delicious aroma.

There, just beyond a strange, brownish vine, there lay what we know to be a sandwich. Of coarse, _he_ didn't know what it was, but he did know it was where the smell of food was coming from. He made a grab for it, and in an instant, felt a rush of air and a sensation of being flipped over.

After the dizziness dispelled, he looked about himself and saw that the strange vine had gotten a hold of his leg, and was now suspending him from it. He immediately knew what to do. He just had to swing a bit… a little more, then _reach_… and there! He grabbed the sandwich.

_Interesting_… He thought to himself. _I saw this, what do they call it? Rope? Yeah, I think_ _that's it. This rope sitting here, and I probably could of figured out that it was some kind_ _of trap… but I fell for it anyway._ _I just wanted this food so much that I was willing to_ _overlook the possible hazards. Hmmm… I wonder why that is?_ He took a bite from his sandwich. _I guess we're kind of stupid that way._

Before he could take another bite, there was a rustling in the woods, and there stepped out one of those monkey-things he had seen so many of. This one had red skin with black stripes on it and the top of its head had an odd, sort of bowl-ish shape to it.

"Oh, wow!" the thing said, taking off the bowl shape of its head and revealing spiky, yellow fur. "I caught one! An actual tiger!"

"Wait, _you_ set this up!" the tiger snapped.

"Whoa!" the monkey nearly stumbled backwards "Did you… did you just talk?"

"Yeah, I did! Now get me down, please."

"Um, okay… but don't try and eat me or I will knock you –"

"I'm not gonna eat you, just get me out of this stupid tree!"

"Uh, okay… " the monkey stepped behind the tree where he couldn't see him. All of a sudden, there was a whoosh of moving air and the tiger was out of the tree. He sat up, rubbing his head where it had hit the ground, and the monkey-thing appeared again.

"So," it said "a talking tiger. How, exactly, can you talk? Where'd you come from?"

"It doesn't matter." He said. "It's no place I'm going back to any time soon."

"Okay," the monkey responded "Then, where are you going?"

He thought about this a moment "I don't know" he said, finally.

"How about coming to live with me?"

"Well, I don't know. You really think I could?"

"Sure, my parents won't mind?"

"Well… "

"Come on!" the monkey said "It'll be fun!"

He thought about this while chewing the last bit of his sandwich "Alright." He finally said.

"Great!" the monkey exclaimed "It's right over in this direction. I'm Calvin, by the way." It extended it's hand. The tiger shook it the way he had seen these things do before.

"Do you have a name?" the monkey – or Calvin asked.

The tiger thought about this. He had never really thought about a name before. He did remember what his caretaker at the zoo used to call him. Was that a name?

"I'm, uh… Hobbes." He stated.

And so, tiger and boy set off for Calvins home, in what was the dawning of a great friendship. Incidentally, no matter how many other people saw Hobbes, all they ever saw was nothing more than a stuffed tiger toy. I suppose that's just one more thing that mankind is just _not_ meant to understand.


End file.
